Main content

Overeducated, underpaid: China鈥檚 youth unemployment problem

Why can鈥檛 they find jobs?

More than one in five people between the ages of 16 and 24 are jobless in China according to the latest government data. But the figure could be even higher.

Millions of university graduates are struggling to find high paying jobs. So the government is encouraging them to roll up their sleeves and consider manual work in the countryside instead.

But many aren鈥檛 keen and some are ducking out of the rat race all together, sharing memes of themselves ripping up their degrees. We hear from Joy, who says that out of her class of 32, only around a third have found full-time jobs since graduating in the summer.

Laura Bicker, a 成人论坛 correspondent based in Beijing, explains what led to this point, and what might happen next.

Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk
WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6
Presenter: William Lee Adams
Producers: Mora Morrison and Emily Horler
Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

Available now

12 minutes

Last on

Thu 11 Jan 2024 03:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Wed 10 Jan 2024 18:50GMT
  • Thu 11 Jan 2024 03:50GMT

Podcast